Responding to the growing problem of childhood obesity in the United States, The Culinary Institute of America has launched an innovative new website to provide important information, statistics, and recipe solutions titled Menu for Healthy Kids: Fostering Positive Change in Our Schools, http://healthykids.ciachef.edu. It is geared for utilization by five key audiences: school administrators, food service directors, foodservice industry, teachers, and parents and kids.Content on the new website will be updated regularly, keeping pace with scientific advancements. Links to other informational sources will also be kept current. The site will provide live news feed as well, guaranteeing updates on nutritional breakthroughs. A link to YouTube CIA cooking videos offers healthy menus instruction. There will be scientific content from the CIA's research arm, The Menu Research and Flavor Discovery Institute. People can sign up to receive e-mail updates. A coordinating Facebook page has been launched, and podcasts are planned with prominent school lunch reformers.
The website was established to achieve key objectives, said the CIA's Rico Griffone:
- Increase collaboration and dialog among individuals, institutions, and industry working to improve school food.
- Identify and promote best practices that are currently working in school foodservice.
- Create a dynamic virtual community for exchanging information and resources about food and food practices in schools and at home that lead to improved child health.
Visit www.ciachef.edu.